The Department of Justice (DoJ) and the Supreme People’s Court (SPC) today held their first high-level joint meeting, in Huizhou.

Co-chaired by Deputy Secretary for Justice Cheung Kwok-kwan and the SPC’s Research Office Director General Zhou Jiahai, the meeting was aimed at accelerating work on mechanisms, regulatory frameworks and the training of talent in relation to the Greater Bay Area.

It also sought to help different sectors seize development opportunities in connection with constructing the rule of law in the bay area.

In Beijing, in mid-June, the DoJ and the SPC signed a memorandum of understanding on establishing an interface platform for judicial and legal co-operation in the bay area. Today's meeting was the first high-level joint meeting under this framework.

Mr Cheung said the establishment of such a platform will deepen communication and collaboration between the two sides through practical interfacing between senior leaders, allowing more efficient integration of resources and needs, as well as the systematic promotion of research, talent training and professional exchanges.

He added that the platform will facilitate the implementation of specific measures, enabling interactions between people and businesses in the two places, so as to promote the bay area’s high-quality development.

At the meeting, the two sides agreed to review and enhance the mechanism for mutual legal assistance in civil and commercial matters on an on-going basis, and jointly release notable cases relating to mutual legal assistance.

On the measure allowing Hong Kong-invested enterprises to adopt Hong Kong law, both sides will press ahead with the implementation of a pilot scheme as soon as possible, and take forward implementation of the measure allowing Hong Kong-invested enterprises in the bay area to choose for arbitration to be seated in Hong Kong.

It was also decided that the first practical training exercise for lawyers in the bay area will be conducted on July 19 and 20 at the Guangdong branch of the National Judges College.

Moreover, both sides agreed to leverage Hong Kong's establishment of the Hong Kong International Legal Talents Training Academy to take forward a practical training course for Mainland civil and commercial judges on common law and foreign-related civil and commercial legal issues this year.

Mr Cheung said he hopes the relevant initiatives will allow the unique advantages of “one country, two systems and three jurisdictions” to be brought more into play in the construction of the rule of law in the bay area.